Nine-year D.C. contracting saga comes to a close

The first rule of Fight Club, of course, is, "You do not talk about Fight Club."

I can't say for certain what the first rule of contracting is, but I imagine it's something to the effect of: "Don't work under a contract you can't say for sure is valid."

Susan Benton went to work as a consultant for the University of the District of Columbia more than nine years ago. She was hired by Gerald Davis, then director of UDC's Science and Engineering Center, in May 2002 to help develop a partnership between UDC and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Payment for her services wouldn't come for nearly a decade.

Over the course of several months in 2002, Benton claims she performed $23,915.30 worth of work for UDC. But UDC argued, in a motion to dismiss filed in December 2010 with the D.C. Contract Appeals Board, that Davis had no authority to sign the contract in the first place. It was unauthorized, the university said. The dean didn't approve it or know the terms of it, and neither did the university president.

Benton first filed her appeal in October 2003. In December 2005, the appeals panel allowed Benton and her attorney, Irving Kator, to perform discovery. Nothing happened as the parties wrangled over whom Benton could depose.

Five years later, on Oct. 8, 2010, the appeals board ordered Benton to show cause why the appeal "should not be dismissed with prejudice for failure to prosecute." Turns out, the 88-year-old Kator died in Paris in 2008. Kator's son Michael took over the case, but still, things hadn't moved.

"While the untimely and unfortunate death of Appellant’s previous counsel in 2010, furthered (sic) delayed the prosecution of this claim, this isolated tragedy does not excuse her failure to prosecute," the university wrote in its motion to dismiss.

In any case, Benton objected to the university's motion. The board ruled in her favor, and the two sides ultimately settled last month, for less than half of what Benton sought, according to sources familiar with the case. Benton, who could not be reached for comment, is now CEO of the Chicago-based Urban Libraries Council.

D.C. agencies are no stranger to unauthorized and invalid contracts. For years, companies were known to work on an informal basis, often verbally. The practice was so rampant that in 2008, the D.C. Office of the Attorney General suggested unpaid vendors file "friendly" collection lawsuits against the District, which the city promised not to challenge — so long as the vendors did not seek interest or attorney's fees.

And word went out that from then on, no invalid contracts would be paid. Period.

Hopefully the message has gotten through — follow procedure, take care, or else find yourself in a years-long appeal that will likely cost more to fight than to settle.